Orchard Park, N.Y. -- When two coaches know each other as intimately as Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott and New York Jets coach Adam Gase, every matchup becomes a chess match with added intensity.

Sunday’s season opener - the fifth time McDermott and Gase have squared off in the last three seasons - came down to the final minutes. Bills quarterback Josh Allen led the game-winning drive, connecting with receiver John Brown on a 38-yard touchdown strike with 3:07 remaining.

McDermott had an edge in this year’s first meeting between the coaches because of the synergy he’s built in his three seasons in Buffalo. Gase, who coached the past three seasons down in Miami, had to start from scratch with a whole new cast with the New York Jets in January.

Gase knew what he wanted to do against the McDermott’s defense but he was worried about putting too much on his new team’s plate too fast.

“It’s kind of that game of chicken like, I know, you know, kind of deal,” Gase said. “I feel like there was a few situations in the game I was worried that I overloaded some of the guys.”

Gase had a mini meltdown with the New York media on Monday, apparently throwing his own players under the bus when asked about the team’s struggles against the Bills on Sunday.

Jets running back Le’veon Bell said the loss was frustrating because the offense couldn’t move the ball consistently against an unrelenting Bills defense.

After the game, Gase put things in perspective when it comes to the Buffalo defense and how it’s evolved into an elite unit.

“Those guys being in Sean’s system for the last three years, they are playing without thinking,” Gase said. “They can play football.”

McDermott improved to 4-1 all time against Gase with the comeback win. His defense held the Jets to just 223 total yards.

Here are three things that are helping the Bills defense go from good in 2018 to potentially elite in 2019 .

Lorenzo Alexander and Jerry Hughes mentioned the maturity of Tremaine Edmunds and credited his leadership and ability to stay calm as the #Bills defense came up with a strong showing against the #Jets despite the offense turning the ball over 4 times.@WGRZpic.twitter.com/sBC644KXeY

The Bills defense was under some stress against the Jets. The offense turned the ball over four times in the first half. Amazingly the Buffalo defense didn’t surrender a single point off those mishaps.

Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander attributed the resolve of the defense to its second-year leader in the middle.

“The maturity of Tremaine (Edmunds) shows. I thought he did a great job of leading the guys (on Sunday)," Alexander said. “Every time we had a turnover, (he’d) bring the guys into a huddle and just refocus us. That went a long way.”

Over the course of the summer Edmunds has spent hours upon hours off to the side at practice, in front of five garbage cans plotting entry points with linebackers coach Bob Babich and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. The mental preparation Edmunds has done showed against the Jets. Bell was hamstrung for just 60 yards rushing in his anticipated return to the NFL after a year away from the game after a nasty divorce from Pittsburgh.

The Bills are putting Edmunds in pressure situations in practice so he’ll be ready and be able to handle them in games.

“We found ourselves in some stressful situations (against the Jets),” Frazier said Monday. “Our players, they really feed off of Tremaine’s calmness - his ability to be able to process in the heat of the moment. And that had a lot to do with the preparation that went into stressing him as much as possible in the meetings and in practice, because those guys are going to feed off his energy. He has responded tremendously and that helps the rest of our defense and the rest of our team.”

Six of the Bills 11 starters on defense have played two full seasons together. Lorenzo Alexander, Tre’Davious White, Matt Milano, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer and Jerry Hughes don’t have to think about what each other is doing out on the field. At this point it’s like second nature.

“We know that any situation we get put in we’re able to get out of. Whatever it is,” Hyde said Sunday. "

When the Bills offense took the lead for the first time against the Jets late in the game, the Buffalo defense had to do something he hasn’t done a ton over the last 12 months: play with and try to defend a lead.

The trust and confidence that each player has in every other player at all three levels of the defense means there is no panic.

“The big thing is staying calm and continue to do what we do,” Alexander said. “I think often times when (your defense has to make a stand to win) you can almost get tight in a sense like, ‘Well, now it’s all on us.’ (But you) Just continue to play free and continue to do what we were doing the rest of the game, and the outcome will come out the way we want to at the end of the game. Obviously it did.”

3. Pass rush produced four sacks vs. Jets

The Bills defense hit Darnold nine times and recorded four sacks on Sunday. The problem last season was that the Bills couldn’t find any consistency while rushing the passer.

“Statistically we had a lot of hits on the quarterbacks a season ago, we were in the top 10 in that area, but we didn’t get them on the ground as often as we needed to and would like to,” Frazier said.

The addition of rookie defensive tackle Ed Oliver is already paying off. His disruptive nature in the middle is going to unleash defensive end Jerry Hughes on the edge. Even with the constant pressure against Darnold and the Jets, Frazier thinks the Bills can be even better going forward.

“We left a few out on the field yesterday as well. There was some others that we felt like we should have gotten, but it’s definitely something we want to improve on,” he said. “That’s one game and we’re going to face other good quarterbacks, other mobile quarterbacks. And we got to be able to not just get there but finish the play and get a sack.”